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Character description

When Kishimoto created Naruto's character, he incorporated a number of traits he felt made an ideal hero: a straightforward way of thinking, a mischievous side, and many of the attributes possessed by Goku from the Dragon Ball franchise. He also made sure to keep Naruto "simple and stupid." Kishimoto did not model Naruto after anyone in particular, instead conceiving him as childlike with a dark side induced by his harsh past. Despite this, he is always optimistic, a trait Kishimoto says makes him unique. Naruto's personality is, by and large, childish in nature. Kishimoto frequently tries to show this when illustrating Naruto, such as depicting him mimicking a turtle like a child might do on the manga cover of volume 10.

Naruto's wardrobe is based on clothing Kishimoto wore when he was younger; according to Kishimoto, using a pre-existing design would not have made Naruto unique whereas something original would have made him stand out too much. The orange coloring of his costume is used to make Naruto "pop," with blues often being used to complement the orange. Because Naruto is associated with spirals, swirl patterns are incorporated into his costume. Initial illustrations of Naruto had him wearing boots, but Kishimoto replaced these with sandals, because he enjoys drawing toes. The goggles that Naruto used to wear were also replaced with a hitai-ite, or shinobi headband, because the goggles themselves were too time consuming to draw. The colors of his outfit, however, were one of the most difficult to choose by him. Additionally, he commented he wants to apologize to the anime staff for Naruto's design, considering it too difficult to make.

Kishimoto said he is glad his character has blond hair and blue eyes. The editor of Shōnen Jump in the United States added that he implied that the traits may have led the character to appeal to a Western audience. Kishimoto said that he most identifies with Naruto out of all of the Naruto characters. When asked why Naruto's favorite food is ramen instead of kitsune udon Kishimoto said that he personally liked eating ramen. In the Naruto: Clash of Ninja video game series, Naruto is playable in various stages of the demon fox's manifestation characterized by a red-colored chakra. Kishimoto took inspiration from the presentation of these forms, imitating one of them for the manga cover of volume 26. When designing Naruto for his Part II appearance, Kishimoto drew Naruto's forehead protector wider to make his eyebrows easier to draw, something that had bothered him in his previous design. He also noted that Naruto's pants made the character look childish. To remedy this, Kishimoto designed a portion of Naruto's pants to roll up, giving the character a more mature appearance.

In the original Japanese versions of Naruto, Naruto often ends his sentences with the addendum "-ttebayo" (which achieves an effect similar to ending a sentence with "you know?"). Kishimoto wanted to give Naruto a childlike catch phrase, and "dattebayo" came to mind. Kishimoto believes the phrase complements Naruto's character, and serves as a verbal tic that portrays him as somewhat of a brat. Throughout the beginning of the English dub version, "dattebayo" and "-ttebayo" were replaced with the phrase "Believe it!", both to mirror the effect and to match the character's lip movements. The producers of the English anime stated that, of all of the characters, Naruto was the most difficult character to cast for, adding that Maile Flanagan "has Naruto down, from the mischievous side, that precocious twelve year old we learn to love, to the serious side." Flanagan comments that she does not listen to Junko Takeuchi's (Naruto's voice actor in the Japanese series) records when performing Naruto, not wanting to imitate her voice, instead wanting a more "original" voice for him.

In Super Smash Flash 2

Naruto is a starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. As SSF2 is considered a reboot to the original SSF, instead of a sequel, he is catalogued as a newcomer given his absence in the official Super Smash Bros. games. His sprite is based off his Shippūden design. His moveset is from the many types of Jutsu he uses in the anime/manga, including his signature moves, the Rasengan and Shadow Clone Jutsu. Now he can also use the powers of his Tailed Beast, Kurama, as his Final Smash. He is ranked 37th in C- tier on the current tier list.

Trivia

Naruto and his series are the only manga and anime representatives that appears in both the original Super Smash Flash and Super Smash Flash 2. However, as stated above, he is considered a newcomer in the latter due to him not appearing in an official Super Smash Bros. game before.

Naruto is the one of four fighters in Super Smash Flash 2 to be voiced in Japanese, the others being Marth, Luffy, and Ichigo.